July 5, 2012 - 3:54pm —
U.S. home sales up 12% from last year:
DataQuick — During
the 30-day sales period ending July 5, approximately 211,000 homes were sold in
98 of the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas, research firm DataQuick
said Thursday.
Sales overall rose 12% from the same
period a year earlier and 10.6% from 2009 levels.
Home prices also went up with the median
price hitting $193,000 on July 5, up 6% from a year ago and 4.3% from three
years ago. In a little over a month, the median sales price rose from
$186,000 to $193,000. The DataQuick report analyzes 66.25% of all U.S.
home sales, excluding the key markets of Louisville and Wichita. kpanchuk@housingwire.com
Chase analysts expect home prices to rise 12% by
2016
By Jon Prior • July 11, 2012 • 3:10pm
JPMorgan Chase
($36.00 0%)
analysts expect national home prices to rebound 12% over the next four years.
"We believe that, nationally, home
prices have hit a bottom, and we continue to project a gradual recovery path
for the next few years," according to a report from the banking analysts
this week.
Updated July
11, 2012, 1:05 p.m. ET
The U.S. Housing Bust Is Over
By
DAVID WESSEL
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THIS COLUMNIST
The housing market has
turned—at last.
The U.S. finally has
moved beyond attention-grabbing predictions from housing "experts"
that housing is bottoming. The numbers are now convincing.
Nearly seven years after
the housing bubble burst, most indexes of house prices are bending up. "We
finally saw some rising home prices," S&P's David Blitzer said a few
weeks ago as he reported the first monthly increase in the slow-moving
S&P/Case-Shiller house-price data after seven months of declines.
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Nearly 10% more existing
homes were sold in May than in the same month a year earlier, many purchased by
investors who plan to rent them for now and sell them later, an important sign
of an inflection point. In something of a surprise, the inventory of existing
homes for sale has fallen close to the normal level of six months' worth
despite all the foreclosed homes that lenders own. The fraction of homes that
are vacant is at its lowest level since 2006.
The reduced inventory of
unsold homes is key, says Mark Fleming, chief economist at CoreLogic, a housing
data-analysis firm. For the past couple of years, house prices have risen in
the spring and then slumped; the declining supply of houses for sale is reason
to believe that won't happen again this year, he says.
Builders began work on
26% more single-family homes in May 2012 than the depressed levels of May 2011.
The stock of unsold newly built homes is back to 2005 levels. In each of the
past four quarters, housing construction has added to economic growth. In the
first quarter, it accounted for 0.4 percentage points of the meager 1.9% growth
rate.
"Even with the
overall economy slowing," Wells Fargo Securities economists said,
cautiously, in a note to clients, "the budding recovery in the housing
market appears to be gradually gaining momentum."
Economists aren't always
right, but on this at least they agree: A new Wall Street Journal survey of
forecasters found 44 believe the housing market has reached its bottom; only
three don't. (The full results of the Journal's July survey will be released at
2pm ET)
Housing is still far
from healthy despite the Federal Reserve's efforts to resuscitate it by helping
to push mortgage rates to extraordinary lows: 3.62% for a 30-year loan,
according to Freddie Mac's latest survey. Single-family housing starts, though
up, remain 60% below the 2002 pre-bubble pace. Americans' equity in homes is $2
trillion, or 25%, less than it was in 2002 and half what it was at the peak.
More than one in every four mortgage borrowers still has a loan bigger than the
value of the house, though rising home prices are reducing that fraction
slowly.
Still, the upturn in
housing is a milestone, a particularly welcome one amid a distressing dearth of
jobs. For some time, housing has been one of the biggest causes of
economic weakness. It has now—barely—moved to the plus side. "A little
tail wind is a lot better than a headwind," says economist Chip Case, the
"Case" in Case-Shiller.
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Fla.’s housing market continues
positive trends in June
June existing-home prices up, sales down with constrained supply.
ORLANDO, Fla. – July 19, 2012 – Florida’s housing market had
increased pending sales, more closed sales, higher median prices and a reduced
inventory of homes for sale in June, according to the latest housing data
released by Florida Realtors®.
“Florida’s housing recovery continues its
positive momentum,” said 2012 Florida Realtors President Summer Greene,
regional manager of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Florida 1st in Fort
Lauderdale. “All of the signs point to solid gains, which is good news for the
state’s economy. In June, pending sales were up 31 percent for existing
single-family homes and nearly 23 percent for townhouse-condo units compared to
a year ago. The trend shows that many buyers are ready to purchase their
Florida dream home, but a lack of financing options and overly restrictive
credit standards remain obstacles.”
Pending sales refer to contracts that are
signed but not yet completed or closed; closed sales typically occur 30 to 90
days after sales contracts are written.
Statewide closed sales of existing
single-family homes totaled 18,800 in June, up 5.3 percent compared to the
year-ago figure, according to data from Florida Realtors Industry Data and
Analysis department and vendor partner 10K Research and Marketing. The
statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes last month was
$151,000, up 8.2 percent from June 2011.
Foreign home searches drop as prices
rise
SAN
FRANCISCO – July 24, 2012 – Trulia – a home search website – looked at the
buyers who accessed its website to check home listings. The company says that
in recovering markets, the number of foreign buyers conducting a search appears
to drop off as real estate prices rebound.
However, foreign buyers are still
interested in U.S. real estate generally and Florida real estate specifically.
Trulia listed the top 10 cities searched by foreign buyers through its website,
and six are in Florida:
1. Miami
2. Los Angeles
3. Fort Lauderdale
4.
Lakeland-Winter Haven
5. Orlando
6. West Palm Beach
7. Cape
Coral-Fort Myers
8. Honolulu
9. San Francisco
10. Las Vegas
Trulia
says that 15.7 percent of the Miami searches done through its website were by
foreign buyers.
“Foreigners attracted to real estate bargains get turned off
when prices increase,” says Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist. “Investors
want to buy when prices are at their bottom, but they’ll start to lose interest
when prices rise 15 percent, as they have in Miami and Phoenix.”
Falling home
prices across the U.S. real estate market have attracted foreign home
searchers, most notably from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.
However, U.S. asking prices rose nationally 0.3 percent year over year in
June.
© 2012 Florida Realtors®
Zillow says it’s official: Market hit
bottom
SEATTLE
– July 24, 2012 – Experts still question Zillow’s forecasts, but their latest
one could convince skittish buyers to jump into the market: The company says
its Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) rose on an annual basis for the first time
since 2007 in the second quarter, increasing 0.2 percent year-over-year to
$149,300. Zillow execs say a pattern of price increases indicates that the real
estate market has hit bottom.
“After four months with rising home values and
increasingly positive forecast data, it seems clear that the country has hit a
bottom in home values,” says Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. “The
housing recovery is holding together despite lower-than-expected job growth,
indicating that it has some organic strength of its own.
Nearly one-third of
metros in the ZHVI – 53 out of 167 – posted an annual increase in home values.
The largest increase came in Phoenix, where home values are up 12.1 percent
compared to the second quarter of 2011.
In a separate report that forecasts
future home values, Zillow expects 67 of 156 markets to see value increases
over the next year, with the largest increases expected in the Phoenix (9.9
percent) and Miami areas (6.1 percent). U.S. home values are expected to rise
1.1 percent.
“Of course, there is still some risk as we look down the
foreclosure pipeline and see foreclosure starts picking up,” says Humphries.
“This will translate into more homes on the market by the end of the year, but
we think demand will rise to absorb that, particularly in markets where there
are acute inventory shortages now. Looking forward, we expect home values to
remain relatively flat as the market works through a backlog of foreclosures
and high rates of negative equity.”
© 2012 Florida Realtors®
US builders start most new homes
since Oct. 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) – July 18, 2012 – U.S. builders broke ground on
the most new homes and apartments in nearly four years last month, the latest
evidence that the housing market is recovering.
The Commerce Department said
Wednesday that housing starts rose 6.9 percent in June from May to a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 760,000. That’s the highest since October
2008.
Single-family housing starts, which account for more than 70 percent of
new residential construction, rose for the fourth straight month to a two-year
high. Apartment starts, which can be volatile, increased after falling in May.
30-year mortgage hits 3.53%, a new
recordto
move much in the short term, say 50% of the industry experts polled this week
by Bankrate.com. The
WASHINGTON
– July 20, 2012 – Average rates on fixed mortgages fell again this week to
record lows, creating more incentive for buyers to enter the recovering housing
market.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the
30-year loan fell to 3.53 percent. That’s down from 3.56 percent last week and
the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.
The average rate on
the 15-year mortgage, a popular refinancing option, declined to 2.83 percent,
below last week’s previous record of 2.86 percent.
The rate on the 30-year
loan has fallen to or matched record-low levels in 12 of the past 13
weeks.
Cheaper mortgages have contributed to a modest housing recovery. Home
sales fell in June but were up from the same month last year. Home prices are
rising in most markets.
Builders are putting up more houses than they have in
nearly four years, a long-awaited recovery that could help energize the U.S.
economy.
Low mortgage rates could also provide some help to the economy if
more people refinance. When people refinance at lower rates, they pay less
interest on their loans and have more money to spend. Many homeowners use the
savings on renovations, furniture, appliances and other improvements, which
help drive growth.
Still, the pace of home sales remains well below healthy
levels. Many people are still having difficulty qualifying for home loans or
can’t afford larger downpayments required by banks.
And the sluggish job
market could deter some from making a purchase this year.
U.S. employers added
only 80,000 jobs in June, a third straight month of weak hiring. The
unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2 percent, the government reported last week.
Slower
job creation has caused consumers to pull back on spending.
Mortgage rates
have been dropping because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury
note. A weaker U.S. economy and uncertainty about how Europe will resolve its
debt crisis have led investors to buy more Treasury securities, which are
considered safe investments. As demand for Treasurys increase, the yield
falls.
To calculate average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the
country on Monday through Wednesday of each week.
The average does not include
extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest
rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fee for
30-year loans was 0.7 point, unchanged from last week. The fee for 15-year
loans slipped to 0.6 point, down from 0.7 the previous week.
The average rate
on one-year adjustable rate mortgages was unchanged at 2.69 percent. The fee
for one-year adjustable rate loans also stayed the same, at 0.4 point.
The
average rate on five-year adjustable rate mortgages dropped to 2.69 percent
from 2.74 percent last week. The fee was unchanged at 0.6 point.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated
Press, Marcy Gordon, AP business writer. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright © 2012 The Associated
Press, Marcy Gordon, AP business writer. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
